forsake
/fɔɹˈseɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.91 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).
Transitive verb
verb
To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).
Obsolete; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Doeſt thou forſake the deuill and all his workes? / Aunſwere. I forſake them."
- "Such hazard now muſt doting Tarqvin make, / Pawning his honor to obtaine his luſt, / And for himſelfe, himſelfe he muſt forſake."
- "Thou lou'd the Church once, and didſt God adore, / But now forſakest him, thou lou'd before."
- "And about the ninth houre, Jeſus cried with a loud voyce, ſaying, Eli, Eli, lamaſabachthani, that is to ſay, My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken mee?"
- "He is forſaken of the world, his kinfolk, friends, and acquaintance; his owne members and ſenſes faile him; yea, hee forſaketh (as it were) himſelfe, in that the very vſe of reaſon forſaketh him."
- "Let Prudence yet obſtruct thy venturous way; / And take good heed, what men will think and ſay: / That beauteous Emma vagrant courſes took; / Her father's houſe and civil life forſook; / That, full of youthful blood, and fond of man; / She to the wood-land with an exile ran."
Etymology
From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from”), from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”). By surface analysis, for- + sake. Cognates include Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Danish forsage (“to give up”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), .
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɔɹˈseɪk/
- British English: /fɔːˈseɪk/
Usage
Inflected Forms
forsakes (present, singular)
forsaking (participle, present)
forsook (past)
forsaken (participle, past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
forsook (first person, past)
forsakest (archaic, present)
forsook (past, second person)
forsookest (archaic, past)
forsaketh (archaic, present)
forsook (past, singular)